Murray happy Ducks landed Syracuse

EDMONTON, Alberta -- Some of the Ducks' best prospects this season have played for teams in Bakersfield, Toronto, Winnipeg, San Antonio and Abbotsford.

Abbotsford? If you're unaware of the city, it is located just above the U.S. border about 40 miles southeast of Vancouver.

The larger point is without an American Hockey League affiliate this season, the Ducks have had to move players around all season to General Manager Bob Murray's dismay but they took a step toward rectifying that by announcing an operation agreement with the Syracuse Crunch that will begin in 2010-11.

It is a three-year deal with a two-year option and it gives the Ducks an AHL home after financial problems with the owners of the Iowa Chops forced the club to end its affiliation two years ago after just one season.

"This year didn't work anywhere close to where we thought it might have worked without an affliate for the development of our players," Murray said. "For our franchise, this is a good thing."

Murray credited David McNab, the Ducks' vice president of hockey operations, with doing all the leg work to make the deal happen with the Crunch. Syracuse had served as the AHL affiliate for Columbus the last 10 years.

Once the Edmonton Oilers moved their AHL operation from Springfield (Mass.) to Oklahoma City, Columbus struck a deal to take the Oilers' place. The Ducks, who had been investigating several potential cities, moved quickly to lock in Syracuse.

"There were some moving parts," Murray said. "We had to wait until a few things kind of fell in place, for a better way to put it. We weren't in control of everything. When Columbus jumped to Springfield, that opened up Syracuse."

The Ducks had grown increasingly frustrated with their minor-league situation as they had to shuttle top prospects around in order to get them playing time. Murray's relationships with Toronto Marlies GM Dave Nonis and Manitoba Moose GM Craig Heisinger helped him place several players with those teams but that was a temporary solution.

"We have some good young players in the system," Murray said. "Development is everything in today's cap system. You have to have players continually coming. You've got to have your entry level guys playing."

Murray said the club hasn't abandoned its ultimate goal of bringing an AHL franchise to Southern California but added that "it's just not feasible right now." But while San Diego could be an option in later years, the Ducks would need another NHL club or two to move its operations to such cities as Fresno or Stockton to cut down on travel costs.

The Ducks have their ECHL club in Bakersfield while Stockton is a shared affiliate between the Oilers and San Jose Sharks.

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